Sea landscape (view of Venice)

Aleksander Gierymski struggled with health problems for most of his life. At the end of 1884, he went for treatment to Vienna, then he rested at the North Sea, in Blankenberg and Heist am See, and from spring 1885, he lived in Italy, in Padua, Venice, Florence and Rome, among other places. In the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin, there is Pejzaż morski (Widok Wenecji [The Seascape (View of Venice)] from this last period of his life - a work in the general tonality of greyish cream. Against this background, a dark-grey boat and brown sails stand out. The sky is covered with misty clouds. The artist achieved an interesting effect with white accents in the foreground, used to show snow on the shore, people on the ship and seagulls. The composition is horizontal, which emphasises the format of the painting with a much greater width than height. The fishing boat depicted has two unfurled rhomboid sails. On the left, on the horizon, two small boats with white sails are shown; on the right, several boats against the outline of the coastline. The silhouette of a building can still be seen in the distance. On the right, a thin pile closes the composition. The horizon line has been drawn at the mid-height of the work. On the one hand, Gierymski's painting gives the impression of a fleeting sketch; on the other, a very complete and well-thought-out composition characterises it.

Beata Małgorzata Wolska